


What About Emily?

by VibrantNeonBlack



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Boom! Butterfly Effect, Gen, References to drug & alcohol use, The Prank AU, fourth wall leaning, mentioned relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-17 07:50:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11847177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VibrantNeonBlack/pseuds/VibrantNeonBlack
Summary: Three little words.  Or maybe it's more than the words?  Maybe there's something else that's causing The Prank to turn on its head?  Whatever the case, our loveable pranksters aren't sure they like it.





	What About Emily?

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a story I wrote not long after the game came out. It was intended to be the beginning of an anthology where I wrote about key moments of the game and looked at how different choices would affect the outcome if there had actually been branching paths and a real butterfly effect, instead of just the illusion of one that the game offered. Unfortunately, those other ideas never developed and this was the only one that got written. So here it is, and I hope you enjoy it.

 

 

 

The stage was set.  The players were in position.  And the star had finally taken center stage.  And just in time, the others had been starting to grow impatient.

 

From his spot in the closet, Matt hit Play on his phone’s camera, ready to capture the following moments for future posterity; a video that he was certain would end up being replayed again and again at future gatherings.

 

He had to admit:  When Jessica had filled him in on this prank that she was planning for Hannah, he’d thought it was kind of dumb.  Hiding in a darkened room where Emily’s boyfriend Mike would pretend to seduce the timid wallflower?  And recording the whole thing?  Seemed a bit silly in his opinion.  Then again, it was Jessica who’d thought it up…

 

But the closer it came to crunch time, the funnier the whole thing started to become.  That could have just been the grass he’d smoked not too long ago, but still, this was definitely a great idea.  And besides, it wasn’t going to hurt anyone.

 

“Hi.”  Hannah’s voice reminded him to focus his phone on the action as the quiet brunette slowly stepped further into the darkened room, gaze lowered as she rubbed her right hand along her left arm.  Matt couldn’t help but roll his eyes a little; if Hannah thought that she had ever once been subtle in her desire to want to jump Mike’s bones, she was sadly mistaken.  He wouldn’t be at all surprised to discover that the girl had a shrine dedicated to him in her bedroom and a secret journal where she wrote down all the different ways she could get Mike-senpai to notice her.

 

…

 

And that’s the last time he spends an afternoon watching crappy anime with Ashley and Chris, baked or otherwise.  The last thing he wanted to think about was Hannah losing her mind, killing everyone and doing unspeakable things to their corpses.

 

Speaking of Ashley, she pressed slightly against his shoulder, trying to get a better view of what was going on.  If he were being honest, Matt was pretty surprised that she was here at all.  He knew damn well that Sam would never put up with something like this happening to her best friend, but he really thought that Ashley would be in the same boat.  But then again, Ashley was the one who always had the most trouble fitting in with the rest of the group.  She was nice and everything, but she wasn’t really anyone’s best friend either, so maybe she was just going along with this so as not to feel left out.

 

“Hey,” Mike greeted Hannah in return.  “You got my message, huh?”

 

Hannah stopped rubbing her arm long enough to brush the hair from her face and giggled softly.  “Y-yeah.  I was… surprised, you know?  I mean; happy, but surprised.”

 

Even in the dark, Mike's award-winning smile was perfectly visible.  “Well, I’m happy, too.”

 

Matt was in the process of rolling his eyes again when he suddenly felt Ashley’s breath on his ear.  Not to mention smelling the alcohol that it carried.

 

“Hey, how do we know when we’re supposed to jump out and scare them?” she asked, her voice so low he just barely made out what she said.

 

Jump out and scare them?  That wasn’t even part of the plan!

 

…Was it?  He didn’t think so.  They were just supposed to record what was happening from the closet and wait for the signal from… Mike?  Or Jessica?  There _was_ supposed to be a signal, right?  From the angle he was at, he could see the bed that Emily and Jess were hiding under, but it was dark enough that he couldn’t really tell what they were doing under there, and he sure wouldn’t be able to see them signal to him without coming out into the open first.

 

Damn, they really should have planned this out more than fifteen minutes in advance.

 

Well, whatever.  Best just to keep documenting this riveting scene of a sixth grade romance that was going on before them.

 

“So,” Mike continued after a long pause.  “Are you… ready for this?”

 

Hannah nodded, though she looked like she was beginning to tremble.  It was almost kind of pitiful how bad she had it for the guy.  “Yeah, I’m… I’m ready.  It’s just that, I uh…”

 

Mike, ever the casanova, placed a reassuring hand on the girl’s shoulder.  “Hey, no need to be nervous.  We can take this slow, all right?”

 

Hannah half-nodded, then changed her mind and shook her head ‘no’ instead.  “It’s not that I’m nervous; I just was wondering…”

 

“Wondering about what?” Mike prompted.

 

Hannah took a deep breath, looked him in the eye, and asked, “What about Emily?”

 

Matt had to hold his free hand up to his face to contain the snort of laughter that threatened to escape.  Judging by Mike’s reaction to the question, which was to pull his hand back like something had tried to bite it, this whole prank had just become a hundred times more interesting for entirely new reasons.

 

He wondered how Superman would sweet-talk his way around a question like that, knowing that Emily was in the room listening to everything he said?

+++

 

Mike Munroe was asking himself the same question.  How _was_ he supposed to answer?  With as openly as Hannah had been flirting with him this weekend, he had honestly assumed that she somehow didn’t know he and Emily were even together!  It was more believable than the idea of the innocent girl actively trying to steal him away from someone.  So to hear her bring it up out of the blue like this, it threw him right out of his game.  

 

What would Emily want him to do here?  Keep going with the prank?  Put a stop to it?  What had even made him agree to go along with this ridiculous plan in the first place?

 

…Oh, that’s right:  The possibility of seeing Hannah Washington topless without getting in trouble for it.  If that wasn’t reason enough to risk the wrath of his girlfriend, he didn’t know what was.

 

Besides, if Emily really wanted things to stop, she could jump out and stop them at any time.  Since she hadn’t done that yet, he would take that as the go-ahead to continue.

 

“Well Han,” he started, easily slipping back into his role of seducer.  “I guess what Emily doesn’t know, won’t hurt her.”

 

Hannah stared at him, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.  “So… this will be our secret?”

 

“Just you and me, babe.”  And anybody who might stumble upon the video on Youtube, he thought with a spark of guilt.  He didn’t return the girl’s very obvious feelings, but possibly ruining her reputation was suddenly becoming a very real endgame here.  Maybe he could get Matt to ‘accidentally’ delete the video before it could be uploaded.

 

Unless he succeeded in getting her topless, of course.  Then he would just have Matt send him a copy.  And speaking of…

 

“So, how about I help you out of that?” he asked, his hands already moving toward the buttons on Hannah’s shirt.  They came within inches before she suddenly stepped back and turned to face away from him.  “What’s wrong?”

 

“I’m sorry, I just can’t believe this is really happening!” she explained.  “I mean, out of all the girls in this cabin that you could be with, you would actually want to be with me?”

 

His hands returned to her shoulders, rubbing gently.  “Hey, come on, Han.  There’s no other girl I’d rather be with right now than you.”  Something clicked in his head.  “But uh… what did you mean by ‘all the girls in the cabin?’”

 

Hannah reached up and pulled his hands away so she could turn back to face him.  “Well what girl wouldn’t want to be with a guy like you?” she asked bluntly.  “Okay sure, my sister’s totally gay for Sammy, and I think Ashley might be holding out for Chris-“

 

Neither of them heard the squawk of embarrassment from the closet.

 

“-but I guarantee that Jessica wouldn’t turn you down if you asked.”

+++

 

From under the bed, Jessica silently fumed.  Who did that bitch in second-hand sheep’s clothing think she was?  First she spends a whole weekend trying to seduce Mike almost literally right out from under Emily, then she has the gall to insinuate that she would do the same?  Only a complete whore would steal her best friend’s man, and Jessica Riley was no whore, thank you very much!  An unrepentant tease, maybe, but not a whore!

 

She turned her head toward Emily and saw that she was glaring harder now than she was when Mike had made the crack about how not knowing things wouldn’t hurt her.  She wasn’t sure if Emily was believing what Hannah had just said, but just in case, Jess tried her best to convey without words that the other girl was full of shit and that she had absolutely no attraction to Mike.

 

“Hey, you don’t have to worry about that, Han,” Mike spoke again.  “I have absolutely no attraction to Jessica.”

 

…That dick!

 

“But uh, let’s not talk about the other girls.  Let’s just focus on us, okay?”

 

“S-sure.”  Under the bed was a terrible vantage point, not allowing the two girls to see more than Mike and Hannah’s legs, but from the way Hannah was shifting her weight from one side to the other, it was still pretty clear that she was anxious about proceeding.

 

“So um, I didn’t get to ask you earlier, but what did you think about my new tattoo?”

 

Oh my God!  He doesn’t give a shit about your middle-school ink job!  Hurry up and strip so we can end this charade and put you in your place, damnit!

 

“It’s nice!”  Mike assured her.  “I thought it really… suited you.”

 

The triumph in Hannah’s voice was clear as day.  “Thank you!  …Can I… can I tell you a secret?”

 

Jess was certain that every pair of ears in the room had just perked up in unison.

 

“What kind of secret?”

 

“It’s something I haven’t told anyone yet, but…”  The silence seemed to drag on for ages.  “I actually got more than one tattoo.”

 

And Jess was now certain that at least five mental facepalms had just taken place in unison.  Man-stealing jezebel or not, Hannah Washington had to be the most childish and sheltered woman in all of North America.

 

“That’s cool.  Where’s the other one?”

 

“Well, I… I could show you, but… wouldn’t you rather search for it yourself?”

 

...Or maybe the childish, sheltered attitude was just an act and she was really a full-fledged harpy all along!

+++

 

Emily’s teeth were grinding.  Why was this taking so long?  The plan was for Mike to get the little slut out her clothes as soon as possible, so what the fuck was the hold-up?  The floor was uncomfortable, the dust was irritating her eyes, every s-s-stuttering come-on from Hannah was making her despise the girl more and more, and she was really starting to get pissed at Mike on top of it all.  He may have been acting in the beginning, but she knew for a fact that the groan of anticipation he’d just let slip at the thought of strip-searching the slut was completely genuine.

 

And now that he had gone so far as to push Hannah onto the bed and climb on top of her, she was beginning to think that he’d completely forgotten the plan, or even that she was in the fucking room.

 

A shirt landed on the floor.  Mike’s shirt.

 

He had definitely forgotten.

 

Emily began flexing her fingers in preparation of the massive bitch-slap she would be unleashing soon.  Whoever received it would most likely be whichever one of them stepped closest to her first.

 

“Oh God, Mike!  Yes!”

 

Alright, screw the prank!  She was going to do what she should have done in the first place:  Grab Hannah by the front of her last season’s shirt, pull her in nice and close, and tell her to ‘Stay out of my yard, bitch!’

 

In fact, why hadn’t she just done that in the first place?  Who needed subterfuge when dealing with a simpering baby like Hannah Washington anyway?

 

Giving a firm nod toward Jessica, the two prepared to roll out and ambush the pair.

 

“Oh Mike!  Oh, I bet you’re even bigger than Matt said you were!”

 

…What?

 

“WHAT!?”

+++

 

Ashley nearly fell backward into a pile of shoe boxes at the sudden cry of outrage that rang out, not only from Matt, but Mike as well.  Before she could catch up with what was happening, Matt had stormed straight out of the closet, the prank and his recording phone now the furthest things from his mind.

 

“Okay, time the fuck out a second!” he shouted as Mike leapt off the bed and turned to face him.

 

“I fucking knew it!  You _have_ been checking me out in the locker room!” he shouted back.

 

“Are you out of your mind?” Matt demanded.  “I wouldn’t check you out a book from the library, much less your package!”

 

“Um, ex-CUSE me!”  Emily interrupted loudly as she and Jess pulled themselves up from the floor.  “I think we have more important things to discuss than Matt’s man-crush right now!”

 

“I don’t have a-!“

 

“‘What Emily doesn’t know won’t hurt her’?” she quoted, completely ignoring Matt’s attempted protest in favor of glaring at Mike, whose hands were already raised in defense.

 

“Oh com on, Em!  I was just playing the part!  You really think I would mean something like that when I knew you could hear me say it?”

 

"And what about all the times that I’m _not_ around to hear you say it?”

 

“You, you’re just…” Mike sputtered out of anger or possibly guilt, it was hard to tell.  “That’s completely twisting what I’m saying!  Why do you always do that?”

 

“Maybe because me being in the room didn’t stop you from trying to fucking climb inside of her while you were right on top of me!”

 

“I was acting!”

 

Jess jumped in.  “Were you also acting when you said you weren’t attracted to me?” she asked, causing Emily to redirect her glare at her.

 

“Okay, Jess?  Not about you right now.”

 

“What?  I’m just asking because there’s no way he could be attracted to Hannah and not be attracted to me, too.  That doesn’t make any kind of sense!”

 

“Oh my God, Jessica!  I already have two people in this room trying to steal my man, I don’t need a third!”

 

“That’s not why I-!”

 

“I AM NOT GAY!”

 

The fighting showed no signs of abating, making Ashley rather reluctant to leave the safety of the closet, just in case everyone decided to start yelling at her for some reason.  This little prank, which had seemed fool-proof to her slightly inebriated mind, had jumped the rails in a big way.  Somehow she’d become the only person in the room who wasn’t lusting after Mike apparently.  Not that Mike wasn’t handsome or anything, and seeing him without his shirt on made it pretty obvious why he was so popular.  He just wasn’t… well, Chris.

 

Mm, Chris.  Such a nice guy.  Always polite, even when drunk off his ass.  Or when she was drunk off her ass; she was pretty sure he’d been the one holding her hair in the bathroom the night before… Such a nice guy.

 

Not to mention selfless.  He’d probably take a bullet for one of his friends if he had to.  He wouldn’t make fun of her for liking anime and writing trashy romance novels in her notebook, not that she’d actually shown him those.  Crazy awkward considering he co-starred in most of them…

 

And… he definitely wouldn’t be helping to humiliate a friend, or be too happy with any of the other friends who were doing that…

 

What the hell was she doing here?  Okay yeah: drunk, but still, she liked Hannah.  Maybe not the steal-your-man-and-don’t-care part, but at the same time, she kind of admired the courage to go after what she wanted, even if it did make her seem like kind of a bitch…

 

Not that it mattered, the prank had obviously tanked hard, the others were still yelling at each other, and Hannah was…

 

Where was Hannah…?

 

Oh, she had moved over by the doorway and was standing beside Sam.

 

…How long had Sam been there?  And why was she holding her phoooo- oh.

 

“Um, guys?” she called none too loudly.  Not surprising, nobody heard.  Rather than try her luck again, she moved to Matt and started poking the back of his shoulder until he stopped yelling and turned to face her.

 

“What, Ashley?”  She pointed, and he followed her finger to the door.  Sam gave him a small wave, making his body sag in realization.  “Oh, fuck me.”

+++

 

Sam waited a few more seconds before it became obvious that Mike, Jess and Emily weren’t going to notice her on their own, so she knocked on the doorframe to grab their attention.

 

“Sam?” 

 

“What are you-?”

 

“Oh now what the Hell?”

 

“Hey guys,” Sam greeted, finally returning her phone to her pocket.  “I was going to let you finish, but it didn’t seem like that was happening.”

 

“Were you recording us?” Jess asked.

 

“How long have you been there?” Mike demanded, finally deciding to reach down and pick up his discarded shirt.

 

Sam hummed.  “Somewhere around ‘You got my message, huh?’”

 

Emily’s hands went to her hips.  “I thought you said you didn’t want in on the prank!”

 

“Yeah well, not _your_ prank, anyway.”

 

…

 

“Excuse me?” Emily asked.  “What other prank was there?”

 

In response, Sam tilted her head to the left, where Hannah was smirking a very un-Hannah-like smirk.  “Our prank, obviously.”

 

“...Oh my god.”

  

Ashley raised her hand a little.  “So, I’m a little confused.”

 

“I think we just got punked,” Matt informed her.

 

“By _Hannah_ ,” Jess added in disbelief.

 

Hannah shook her head.  “Well, if it makes you feel any better,”  She pulled off her glasses, ran her fingers through her hair until it lay more naturally against her head, grabbed the beanie that Sam held out to her and put it back on.  “Hannah didn’t really have anything to do with it.”

+++

 

Beth couldn’t remember ever feeling quite so smug.  The one and only time she'd ever outlasted Sam on the climbing wall came close, but this was infinitely more satisfying.

 

For a moment that stretched for an eternity, nobody spoke, or moved.  They all just stared, gobsmacked as they tried to wrap their minds around what, and who, they were looking at.  Finally, Mike broke the silence with a slow and deliberate round of applause.

 

“I’m not even mad,” he admitted.  “I just… wow.  I know it’s dark in here, but how the Hell did I not notice?”

 

Beth scoffed.  “Please Munroe, we’ve been pulling that stunt on our parents for years.  You really thought _you_ were going to see through it?”

 

“Yeah, but still!  I mean, you changed your hair up and are wearing her clothes, but you were standing right in front of me!  And you don’t even have the tattoo!”

 

“Well, you weren’t exactly looking at my arm, were you?”

 

Emily threw her hands up.  “Okay, you know what?  Fine, you got us.  Beat us at our own game, and made us look like morons.  So what now?  I’m still pissed at Hannah for trying to move in on my man!”

 

“And I'm a bit pissed that you recorded us while we were acting like idiots,” Jess chimed in.

 

“Kind of like what you were planning to do to Hannah?” Beth shot back.

 

“Okay, enough!” Sam shouted before things could get heated again.  “Look, everyone in here is at least a little drunk, yeah?”

 

“Or high, whichever,” Matt corrected her.

 

“So, here’s what I’m thinking:  Most of you have said some things that you’re probably starting to regret right now, so how about we all go to bed, and in the morning we can discuss all of this together like sober, rational adults?”

 

Other than a small amount of grumbling, nobody seemed to object to the idea.  It was always hard to argue with Mom-Mode Sam.

 

Beth and Sam parted to allow everyone to file out of the room, Ashley and Matt both shooting nervous glances toward Sam’s phone, Emily not acknowledging them or any of the others, Jess right on her friend’s heels seemingly trying to decide if she should say something or just keep quiet, and Mike bringing up the rear.

 

“Well, this was fun,” he said to no one in particular.

 

And what could have been the end of a very fun night indeed suddenly became even more fun as he walked past the bathroom just as the door flew open.

 

“Hey!” Hannah’s voice rang out as the girl appeared in the doorway, damp and wearing nothing but a white towel.  “If this if someone’s idea of a- OH!”  The girl’s eyes widened and she barely kept a grip on the towel when she realized she was facing a still very shirtless Mike.  “M-Mike!”

 

Mike cleared his throat, but couldn’t bring himself to divert his gaze.  “Uh, evening Hannah.”

 

“Oh my gosh!” the suddenly very red-faced twin squirmed, torn between the desire to slam the door on him or say something corny like ‘I’ll show you mine since you showed me yours’.  She didn’t have time to make either choice before Sam and Beth caught up to them.

 

“Aren’t you in enough hot water with Emily already, Mike?” Beth asked.

 

He nodded absently, his gaze drifting from the half naked girl in front of him to the draining bathtub behind her.  “Yeah.  Hot water.  Right.”  Finally, he shook his head and walked off.  “Good night, girls.”

 

The three girls waited until he disappeared into his room before turning to one another.  “Your timing is impeccable, sis,” Beth told her.

 

“Beth!  I knew it was you!  Why the hell are you wearing my… you know what, I don't care!” Her face suddenly turned giddy.  “Did you two see the way he was looking at me?  He seriously wanted me!”

 

Sam rubbed her eyes.  “Han, sweetie, it’s been a very eventful evening, and everyone is going to have a lot to talk about in the morning, so until then let’s keep our hormones on a leash and not do anything stupid?”

 

Hannah didn’t seem to be listening, as she was staring at the closed door to Mike’s room and biting her lip.  “Do you think if I snuck in-?”

 

Beth interrupted.  “Hannah, if you’re not in your bed by the time Sam and I finish carrying Josh and Chris to theirs, I’m going to throw you into the basement until you cool off!”

 

Hannah turned to Sam for backup.

 

“Better do it,” the blonde told her.  “I can’t imagine being stuck down there in nothing but a towel could be very fun.”

 

Hannah pouted her fiercest pout.  “Yes, _Moms_.  Can I at least have my glasses back?”

 

Once they were satisfied that she was in her room and not about to sneak back out again, though not without shouting back her intention of raiding Beth's pyjama drawer since fair was fair, Beth pulled Sam in for a quick kiss.

 

“Thanks for having her back in there.  If you hadn’t found that note before she did, I don’t even want to think about how this all could have ended for her.”

 

Sam smiled.  “Hey, it’s like Jess said to me:  I’m just looking out for my girl.”

 

“Hm, and here I thought I was your girl.”  She bumped Sam with her hip, causing them both to giggle before she frowned.  “Still, was this really the best way to go?  Who knows if those guys are going to be planning some kind of revenge.  A few of them strike me as the grudge-holding types.” 

 

“It’ll be fine,” Sam assured her.  “I didn't record any of it anyway.  They can sleep off their embarrassment, I’ll make pancakes in the morning, we’ll all hug and things will be back to normal before we head back down the mountain.”

 

Beth sighed.  “I hope you’re right.  The last thing we need is someone taking things too far all because of a silly prank.”

 

The situation finally settled, the two girls proceeded to the kitchen for the hopeless task of rousing two unconscious drunks.

 

And somewhere in the wilderness, a stranger went about his business.  The mountain would claim no new victims this night.

 

Boom.  Butterfly Effect.

**Author's Note:**

> Ashley's an anime fan in my headcannon. And although I personally don't think they're identical, I have read quite a few stories where Hannah and Beth pull Twin-Magic without anyone noticing, so it didn't feel too wrong including it in this. Besides, it was dark and the others were various levels of drunk, so there's that.
> 
> Cards on the table? This story was originally going to be a lemon where Hannah (the real Hannah) succeeded in seducing Mike and having sex with him on the bed, with drunk and horny Jess and Emily going at it on the floor beneath them, Ashley watching and touching herself in the closet and Matt recording the whole thing. But that idea seemed like it would be stretching the belief of their characters and, more importantly, I'm pretty awful at writing sex scenes. So this is what we got instead, and I think it's better this way. Hope you liked it.


End file.
